Tokyo 2020: Spare a Thought for Madrid and Istabul

Raphael Minder and Ceylan Yeginsu report in the NYTimes on the mixed reactions of Olympic “hopefuls” in contender cities Madrid and Istanbul. In the former, facilities begun in the recent bubble economy go underused; in the latter, many citizens celebrate the defeat of a distraction from Turkey’s pressing social problems. “We’ve been tear-gassed too many times to have any Olympic spirit left in us,” Ali Turan, member of the Boycott Istanbul 2020 campaign, is reported as saying.